The history o Perugia goes back tae the Etruscan period. Perugia wis ane o the main Etruscan ceeties. The ceety is kent as the varsities toun an aw, wi the Varsity o Perugia foondit in 1308 (aboot 34,000 students), the Varsity for Foreigners (5,000 students), an some smawer colleges such the Academy o Feene Airts "Pietro Vannucci" (Italian: Accademia di Belle Arti "Pietro Vannucci") public athenaeum foondit on 1573, the Perugia Varsity Institute o Linguistic Mediation for translators an interpreters, the Muisic Conservatory o Perugia, foondit on 1788, an ithers Institutes. Thare are annual festivals an events: the Eurochocolate Festival (October), the Umbria Jazz Festival (Julie), an the International Jurnalism Festival (in Apryle).

Perugia is a well-kent cultural an airtistic centre o Italy. The famous penter Pietro Vannucci, elknamit Perugino, wis a native o Città della Pieve near Perugia. He decoratit the local Sala del Cambio wi a bonnie series o frescoes; aicht o his picturs can be admired in the Naitional Gallery o Umbrie an aw.[1] Perugino wis the teacher o Raphael,[2] the great Renaissance airtist who producit five pentins in Perugia (the day nae langer in the ceety)[3] an ane fresco.[4] Anither famous penter, Pinturicchio, livit in Perugia. Galeazzo Alessi is the maist famous airchitect frae Perugia. The ceety seembol is the griffin, which can be seen in the form o plaques an statues on biggins aroond the ceety.

In 216 an 205 BC it assistit Roum in the Seicont Punic War but efterwairds it is not mentioned till 41-40 BC, when Lucius Antonius teuk refuge thare, an wis reducit bi Octavian efter a lang siege, an its senators sent tae their daith. A nummer o lead bullets uised bi slingers hae been foond in an aroond the ceety.[9] The ceety wis burnt, we are tauld, wi the exception o the temples o Vulcan an Juno— the massive Etruscan terrace-waws,[10] naturally, can hardly hae suffered at aw— an the toun, wi the territory for a mile roond, wis alloued tae be occupeed bi whoiver chose. It must hae been rebuilt amaist at ance, for several bases for statues exist, inscribit Augusto sacr(um) Perusia restituta; but it did no become a colonia, till 251-253 AD, when it wis resettled as Colonia Vibia Augusta Perusia, unner the emperor C. Vibius Trebonianus Gallus.[11]

It is hardly mentioned except bi the geografers till it wis the anerly ceety in Umbrie tae resist Totila, who captured it an laid the ceety waste in 547, efter a lang siege, apparently efter the ceety's Byzantine garrison evacuatit. Negotiations wi the besiegin forces fell tae the ceety's bishop, Herculanus, as representative o the tounsfowk.[12] Totila is said tae hae ordered the bishop tae be flayed an beheidit. St. Herculanus (Sant'Ercolano) later became the ceety's patron saunt.[13]

In the Lombard period Perugia is spoken o as ane o the principal ceeties o Tuscie.[14] In the 9t century, wi the consent o Charlemagne an Louis the Pious, it passed unner the papes; but bi the 11t century its commune wis assertin itsel, an for mony centuries the ceety continued tae mainteen a unthirlt life, warrin against mony o the neebourin land an ceeties— Foligno, Assisi, Spoleto, Todi, Siena, Arezzo etc. In 1186 Henry VI, rex romanorum an futur emperor, grantit diplomatic recognition tae the consular govrenment o the ceety; efterwaird Pape Innocent III, whose major aim wis tae give state dignity tae the dominions hain been constitutin the patrimony o St. Peter, acknawledgit the validity o the imperial statement an recognisit the established ceevic practices as haein the force o law.[15]

In 1797, the ceety wis conquered bi French troops. On 4 Februar 1798, the Tiberina Republic wis formit, wi Perugia as caipital, an the French tricolour as banner. In 1799, the Tiberina Republic mergit tae the Roman Republic.

In 1832, 1838 an 1854, Perugia wis hit bi yirdquauks. Follaein the collapse o the Roman republic o 1848-49, when the Rocca wis in pairt demolished,[18] it wis seizit in Mey 1849 bi the Austrians. In Juin 1859 the inhabitants rebelled against the temporal authority o the Pape an established a proveesional govrenment, but the insurrection wis quashed bloodily bi Pius IX's troops.[20] In September 1860 the ceety wis unitit feenally, alang wi the rest o Umbrie, as pairt o the Kinrick o Italy.

Perugia haes become famous for chocolate, maistly acause o a single firm, Perugina, whose Baci (kisses) are widely exportit.[21] Perugian chocolate is vera popular in Italy. The company's plant locatit in San Sisto (Perugia) is the lairgest o Nestlé's nine steids in Italy.[22]

Perugia the day hosts twa main varsities, the auncient Università degli Studi (Varsity o Perugia) an the Foreigners Varsity (Università per Stranieri). Stranieri serves as a Italian leid an cultur schuil for students frae aw ower the warld.[27] Ither eddicational institutions are the Perugia Fene Airts Academy "Pietro Vannucci" (foondit in 1573), the Perugia Muisic Conservatory for the study o clessical muisic, an the RAI Public Broadcastin Schuil o Radio-Televeesion Jurnalism.[28] The ceety is host tae the Umbra Institute an aw, a accreditit varsity program for American students studyin abroad.[29] The Università dei Sapori (Vasity o Tastes), a naitional centre for Vocational Eddication an Trainin in Fuid, is locatit in the ceety as well.[30]

Kirk o Santa Giuliana, heir o a female monastery foondit in 1253. In its later years, the kirk gained a reputation for dissoluteness. Later, the French turned the kirk intae a granary. Nou, the kirk is a militar hospital. The kirk, wi a single nave, anerly bears traces o 13t century frescoes, which probably uised tae cover aw o the waws. The cloister is a notewirthy example o mid-14t century Cistercian airchitectur frae Matteo Gattaponi (it). The upper pairt o the campanile is frae the 13t century.

the Rocca Paolina, a Renaissance fortress (1540–1543) o which anerly a bastion the day is remainin. The oreeginal design wis bi Antonio an Aristotile da Sangallo, an includit the Porta Marzia (3rd century BC), the touer o Gentile Baglioni's hoose an a medieval cellar.

Perugia haes haed a rich tradition o art an airtists. The Heich Renaissance penter Pietro Perugino creatit some o his maisterpieces in the Perugia aurie. The ither Heich Resaissance maister Raphael wis active in Perugia an an an pentit his famous Oddi Altar thare in 1502-04.

Syne 1971 Perugia haes taken several measures against caur traffec, when the first traffec restriction zone wis implementit. These zones wur expandit ower time an at certain oors o the day drivin is forbidden in the ceety centre. Lairge pairkin lots are providit in the lawer toun, frae whaur the ceety can be reached via public transport.

Syne 2008, an automatit fowk muiver cried Minimetrò haes been in operation an aw. It haes seiven stations, wi ane terminal at a lairge pairkin lot, an the ither in the ceety centre.[37]

↑"...it appears most probable that he did not enter Perugino's studio till the end of 1499, as during the four or five years before that Perugino was mostly absent from his native city. The so-called Sketch Book of Raphael in the academy of Venice contains studies apparently from the cartoons of some of Perugino's Sistine frescoes, possibly done as practice in drawing." (Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition).
See also "Perugia". The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press., 2003

↑The precise role of Raphael in Perugino's works, executed during his apprenticeship, is disputed by scholars. The independent works depicted in Perugia are: the Ansidei Madonna (taken by the French under the terms of the Treaty of Tolentino in 1798), the Deposition by Raphael (Pala Baglioni, this masterpiece was expropriated by Scipione Borghese in 1608, cf. 'The Guardian, October 19, 2004), the Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints, by Raphael (formerly located in the convent of St Anthony of Padua cf.The Colonna Altarpiece review at Art History), the Connestabile Madonna (this picture left Perugia in 1871, when Count Connestabile sold it to the emperor of Russia for £13,200, cf. Encyclopædia Britannica), the Oddi altar by Raphael (requisitioned by the French in 1798)

↑"How much of his glory is due to his kinsman, Fabius Pictor, the first historian of Rome, or to the family legends, which found in Etruria the most fitting scene for the exploits of the great Fabian house, we cannot tell" (Walter W. How and Henry Devenish Leigh, A History of Rome to the Death of Caesar London: Longmans, Green 1898:112).

↑Patrick Amory, People and Identity in Ostrogothic Italy, 489-554 pp185-86, referring to Perugia in passing, notes the increasingly localized role assumed since the mid-5th century by the bishops.

↑Procopius, Bellum Gothicum, 3 (7).2.35.2, characteristically does not mention the incident, reported in Gregory the Great, Dialogues, 13, who imagines a seven-year siege (i.e. since 540, before the accession of Baduila) and dramatically reports Herculanus' grotesque murder.